Timekeeper
by Telethryl
Summary: The death of Portgas D. Ace has hit the world hard. But when a mysterious man appears with an offer too good to be true, the story changes. The events at Marineford are rewritten and a long lost friend returns, but what will the Fates want in return for the changes?
1. Chapter 1: What's Been Lost

**_A/N: _**_Fair warning, this will not be updated every day the way 'Stolen' was. _

* * *

**Chapter 1: What's Been Lost**

No.

_**No**__. _

This couldn't be happening. Not after all that had happened, the friend he'd lost, the people who had counted on him. Too much. He'd been through too much for such a thing, a thing that was ripping at his heart and soul as he tried desperately to bury it from view.

_Lying on the stone, gaping bloody hole in his back, piercing the mark of his father, his pride and joy. Damage that cannot be undone. _

Luffy's hands clapped to the side of his face and he let out a pained scream, eyes unseeing, the forest around him completely ignored.

_Smiling softly, weight of his body leaning on Luffy's. "Sorry… Luffy."_

Another scream tore through the air, horrifying and heart wrenching. He couldn't take this torment, this horror that insisted replaying before his eyes.

_"You didn't get to save me..!"_

His bandaged hand lifted in front of his face, fingers twitching in horrified pain.

_His hand left hanging in the air as the body fell from his grasp to land on the stone, life blood of the most precious person staining his fingers. _

The image burned in his mind and at his heart and he couldn't help the cries of anguish clawing their way from his throat. "GO AWAY!" He shrieked, clawing his way to his feet unable to stay motionless. "GO AWAY!" Fist smashing into a nearby boulder, he didn't even see what he was doing.

_The admiral coming right for him, fist turning into the cruelest of molten punches. Desperation coating his features, big brother rushed forward. "LUFFY!"_

Luffy's eyes squeezed shut tightly at the horrifying scene replaying itself before his eyes. "STOOOOOOOP!" No more, please no more! He couldn't take it!

_Molten fist protruding from the chest of big brother. Most precious person's eyes are squeezed shut and his teeth are grit against the searing agony._

"WAHHHH!" Luffy cried, his first ramming into an even bigger rock, his hand becoming bloody as the stone cut his fingers. He didn't even notice, so in pain was his heart and mind. Ace couldn't be dead, he couldn't have died in Luffy's arms. "GO AWAY!" More Destruction, anything within reach. "GO AWAAY!"

All the while, his agonized screams did not halt. The cliff-face shattered beneath his furious blows, cracking and snapping and falling into the forest beyond. All it served was to make the broken boy tired; he stood in the clearing dust, panting and hunched over.

It did not help. The scene just kept replaying for him, the most morbid of movies that refused to be shut out or turned off.

"Boy."

The soft call was barely heard over his internal - and by this point incredibly external- torment. Confused and still mostly in his own mind, his eyes sought out the source of the voice. His gaze landed on a figure sitting in a nearby tree, looking at him with the most neutral expression he could imagine.

It was impossible to tell if this was a man or a woman, the frame easily suggesting both and neither at the same time. Soft brown hair draped around an ambiguous face, bright silver eyes peering out from beneath to look at the boy. The person was wearing clothes that wrapped and draped, neither a dress nor a robe and yet still managing to flow like one.

"What?" Luffy asked, the word coming out weak and almost helpless.

The man (woman?) shifted on his branch, one slender leg crossing over the other. "You're being tormented by the memory of a loved one."

The pirate's attention was quickly focusing on him more, dragging him out of his mind with a soothing voice. "…Ace…"

Nodding , the stranger shifted his eyes to the fishman standing in the trees behind the boy. But he didn't acknowledge the man other than that. "What if I told you there was a way to save your lost brother?"

Luffy's eyes widened in shock. "How? I want him back!"

Finally showing emotion, the stranger gave a soft smile. "I know. Your bond is something impressive." The person paused, looking the younger man up and down. "I am called the Timekeeper. I can turn back the clock to the day Portgas D. Ace met his end, and I make sure there will be a stop to it."

"Do it!" Luffy said, not skipping a beat.

The stranger shook a finger in the air, silently saying 'not so fast'. "Bad things happen when one messes with the time stream. Especially for such a large event as the death of Gol D. Roger's son. It would create quite a tear, and the universe will seek to get even."

"I don't care!" The pirate practically whined in the most stubborn way. All he wanted was his big brother back. He couldn't lose Ace.

There was silence in the clearing and the minutes ticked by slowly. It was almost a dozen minutes before the stranger spoke. "I only offer this because I have found a way to save his life. My way will work, but it will save no one extra. And as I said, it will create a tear the universe will try to compensate for."

Stumbling toward the tree the person sat in, Luffy's expression turned to desperate pleading. "Please, bring Ace back!"

A single nod was all he received, the stranger's expression went back to neutral. "I will do it. Be warned; you _will_ remember this. And I _will_ be back." He lithely rose to his feet, looking as if he weighed nothing on the branch, and hopped down. Confused, Luffy watched as the Timekeeper approached him and didn't stop until he was less than a foot away. The man lifted his hand and pressed three fingers to Luffy's forehead.

The boy just looked up at the Timekeeper with wide, frightened eyes. Innocent eyes that had been corrupted by the sight of hell, and were left terrified and alone. "What do I do?" He asked weakly, needing to know how to save his brother when the time came.

Brown hair swayed as the ambiguous head shook. "Nothing. There is nothing you can do, that is why it happened the first time. There is only one way to fix this and that is to bring in an outside force." Stepping away from Luffy, the man gave a small smile. "I scoured the threads of fate to find such a thing. You're lucky one exists."

Hearing that there was nothing he could do to save his big brother stabbed at Luffy's already cold heart, even though the information didn't tell him anything knew. He'd failed and he was well aware of it. "Save him."

"He will." The Timekeeper turned on his heel and began to make his way into the forest beyond. "Now I must go. I have another I must see before the clocks turns." His figure disappeared into the shadows of the tree almost as if he were a mirage, but Luffy didn't care.

Luffy sunk to his knees, his dark eyes watching the place where the savior had gone. An odd mixture of relief and worry had taken hold of him. This needed to work. He needed it to with all of his being, because without Ace he only felt broken and empty.

* * *

The office was dark.

But that didn't matter to its one occupant. It was well past midnight and all he wanted to do was sleep, but the thing eluded him like it had for the past two weeks. How could Ace have died and he not done anything about it? Sure, he hadn't heard about it with enough time to do anything. That had been his boss' plan. But it still tormented him. How could he have not known? Not done anything?

Keep the man in the dark, keep him busy. Don't let him see the papers and no one was to talk about anything even close to regarding the war to him. Like a small cat you shut in a room to keep them from hurting themselves, he was shut off from all but the mission he'd had and the people he'd worked with.

He resented it with all his being. The second he'd heard about the war -because how could he not when it was coming through every speaker and showing on every screen?- it had taken ten men just to hold him down. The will to get out there to that execution platform was so strong that he'd severely injured several colleagues in the process.

Never would he feel sorry about it, not with how things had turned out. They'd gotten in the way of him going to help Monkey D. Luffy, of the rescue and prevention of the young pirate's death. If they'd just let him know about it earlier, Portgas D. Ace would be alive.

And that knowledge was killing him.

A breeze ruffled his short hair and he very nearly didn't even bother to check. Sure, he'd left the window closed and that meant someone had very obviously just intruded in his private office. But the will to move or defend himself was little to none.

In the end, he merely tilted his head from where it had been buried in his arms on the desk, a single eye revealing itself to peer at the intruder. His look -from what could be seen- was bored and uncaring as he eyed the dark shape of the person who had made themselves comfortable on his windowsill.

When the man said nothing, the intruder decided to speak. "I have something to speak to you about," the Timekeeper said neutrally.

The man snorted, looking distinctly unimpressed. "A lot of people have things to say to me right now. I'm not in the mood for any of them." The visible eye rolled. "Kindly remove yourself from my office before I use force."

Timekeeper hummed lightly, watching the man with interest. This reaction was not quite what he expected, and yet it completely was. The two things clashed spectacularly to leave him wondering how this man would act next. "It has to do with Gol D. Ace."

Eyes narrowing dangerously, the man pushed himself to sit upright. "Don't call him that," he hissed, unable to stop himself even had he wanted to. "His name is Portgas, not Gol. I suggest you use the correct one if you want to stay in one piece."

The Timekeeper held his hands up in defense, showing he meant no harm. "I simply use the name the fates give me. My apologies, I seem to have offended you."

"Yes you did," the man said curtly, not pleased at all by the continued conversation. "Now get out." His patience was not the strongest thing these days and this intruder was sorely taxing what little he had.

"Now, now. Calm down," Timekeeper said in a placating manner. There wasn't much time to plead his case, he knew. The man at the desk was itching for something to take his frustration out on. "What if I told you there was a way to save the life of Portgas D. Ace?"

Gaze turning suspicious, the man stared at the intruder, his body tense. "What?"

"I happen to have a Devil Fruit ability that allows me to alter the past," Timekeeper explained as best he could. "There are requirements and repercussions, of course. Altering the universe does not come without its many prices."

The chair skidded out behind the man as he stood up quickly, nearly toppling over. "Do it."

Now that was a curious response. From the Timekeeper's estimation, this man was much more rational and careful than Monkey D. Luffy. And yet, the response and lack of hesitation were almost exactly the same. "The universe will try to compensate for an event this large. Terrible things could happen just to save one man's life."

"I don't care," the man breathed, his heart pounding in his chest. Ace would come back to life? There was no other choice in his mind other than 'yes, gods yes'. "Whatever you have to do. Just bring him back. Please."

"You will not even consider that this may be a terrible idea?" Timekeeper asked with interest showing freely on his face. Oh, how interesting this man was! He'd not expected this at all. "Anything could be taken to compensate for stealing one such as Ace from the universe's plan."

The man swallowed dryly, hearing the words, registering them, and promptly not caring. "You asked me and I answered. Bring him back."

A nod was the response he got. "I can only do so much. There must be a thread in fate's web that could align to save his life." At the suddenly worried look, the Timekeeper hopped down from the window. "I wouldn't be here if there wasn't something that could be done. You yourself already know of the thread. How many times in the past two weeks have you thought about it?"

There was little the man could do other than watch the intruder, realization sinking into him.

"_If only you'd known. If only you'd have been able to go_." The Timekeeper gave him a pointed look. "You. You are the thread that, if tugged in the right direction, could save his life." His arms spread wide. "I'm here to tug you in the right direction."


	2. Chapter 2: The Dead Return

**Chapter 2: The Dead Return**

This was probably the most disorienting thing he'd ever experienced. It was no longer well past midnight and he was no longer in his office. In fact, it was in the morning shortly after most people had just woken up. That wasn't true of him; he could remember very clearly what he'd been doing this day.

He was just returning from a mission, the ship he commanded sailing back into port. All that he'd done had been successful, as always, but at the time he couldn't fathom why he'd been recalled so early. Usually he'd been allowed to take his time coming back, but this time had been different.

Now, however, he could remember. He had knowledge from the future and he could only frown as the three other ships sailed out to meet his, a welcome he had neither expected the first time around nor bothered to deny. The glare he sent towards these ship now, though, these ships who were here to prevent him from running off to Marineford…

"Turn this ship around!" He commanded, all the large amounts of authority he possessed lacing his tone.

At the sudden random request, all crew on deck turned their attention to the man in charge. They'd been recalled from the mission, so what was he doing? The second in command of the vessel, a well built woman with long blood red hair that was pulled into a ponytail but still swayed around her hips, approached him as quickly as possible. "What are you doing?" she, by the name of Bekhet Sevilla, asked suspiciously.

Turning his eyes on her, he met her gaze with a steady simmering one of his own. "Turning us around. We have somewhere we need to be and it's not this island." The last thing he would tolerate right now was her going against him.

Sevilla eyed the man. Some kind of a change had happened and she wasn't sure what to make of it. Just five minutes ago he'd been cheerful as always but now… now he was serious and determined about something she could only guess at. Good thing she was a good guesser. "How did you find out?"

If anything, her words just made his eyes narrow on her. This woman he was constantly partnered with and was good friends with had known, and still she'd said nothing. "That's not important." He wasn't about to tell her he'd made a deal to taunt the universe in order to save a pirate. "Just get this thing going."

"Okay, I know this sounds terrible, but we really need to get back." Sevilla did not flinch under the hardening glare of her superior. "I have been given command of this vessel should something like this happen," she threatened, standing tall and authoritative. No, she wasn't about to let him go running off to his exposure to the government and probable death.

"Tik tok, you're running out of time."

Both of them whirled around to look at this new voice, one that was now ingrained in the man's head. There sat the Timekeeper on the rail of the ship, not twenty feet from them. He was lounging and his eyes were fixed out on the ships rapidly closing in.

"And just who the hell are you?" Sevilla hissed, her hand reaching for one of the many weapons that were concealed on her.

Her superior held a hand out in front of her, his eyes fixed on the Timekeeper. "What do you mean?" He didn't like the sound of 'running out of time', though he could make several guesses as to what it meant.

Eyes flickering to lock with the man's, Timekeeper motioned out toward the approaching ships. "The second they're within range of you, your opening is gone and Portgas D. Ace's death will be certain. You cannot try this again. You must go **now**."

Without warning, the man whipped around, both his hands landing on Sevilla's shoulders. "Please don't stop me. I have to go." Pleading wasn't something he was keen on doing, but trying to threaten or bully her would never work. This woman was a rock.

A sigh escaped her. This man… she was far too close to him to ignore that desperate tone that had seized his voice. "All hands! Turn this ship around and sail for Marineford!" She called loudly, making the crew that was by this point openly staring jolt into action. She rubbed her face tiredly as she turned back to her friend. "You better not make me regret this."

Relief flooded through him. "I won't," he assured, looking very much a like a great weight had been taken off his shoulders though it wasn't even half the burden he was carrying. His hands dropped from her and he moved over to the Timekeeper. "Are you sure this will work?"

"It will so long as we make it in time," he replied, still observing the ships. The vessels had quickly realized what was going on and were now aiming to block them. Hopefully since they were in the same fleet they wouldn't have to worry about being sunk.

The man followed his gaze out to the people trying to stop him. At the moment he held little sympathy for their plight should they fail and have to explain it to the guy in charge and, in all honestly, he would probably never have sympathy for them. This was far too important.

"We just need to outrun them," he said, his voice hard as he turned on his heel and made to help with the escape. _'Hold on, Ace,'_ he thought as he took the wheel and turned it hard. _'I'm coming.'_

* * *

For a second, all Luffy realized was that he felt dizzy. His eyes barely registered the color change of his surroundings, going from the darkness of the forest shore on Amazon Lily to the dull grey that was Marineford. Chaos rang in his ears and he could hear shouting, the sounds of war slowly drawing him from his surprised stupor.

It was then that he realized he was running, running full out across the plaza of the headquarters. His body was moving of its own accord but when he realized it and finally got centered into his own head, he stumbled and nearly tripped on his own feet.

"Luffy!" A hand shot out to right him and keep him in motion, and his eyes darted to the side to see none other than Ace. _He was alive_. Emotions of relief so strong they nearly made him cry overwhelmed him as he looked at the fire wielder. "Hold on, we're almost out of here."

Luffy nodded weakly, forcing his legs to keep moving. Tears had sprung to his eyes, but they didn't fall as he grit his teeth and focused. It had worked; he was back in the past and his big brother was safe. Now all he needed to do was make sure that… the horrific image of Ace with a molten fist through his stomach shot through Luffy's mind and he shook his head vigorously. No. There was no way he was letting that happen a second time.

"Ace, Luffy, get in front of me!"

Both brothers glanced over their shoulders. "Jimbei!"

The fishman had come up behind them and his wide body was blocking both of them from whatever lay behind them. "They want to get you two! But what the old man wants is as many survivors as possible!" His gaze turned to look behind him, water welling up at the corner of his eyes.

"We've stolen a marine ship! Get on board quick!" Came the shout from in front of them, a man with scruffy brown hair that looked very much like shag carpet yelling from the deck of a blue striped vessel. In response, a cry of relief mixed with what sounded like a war cry sprung up from the massive surge of pirates running out of the plaza.

Screams erupted from behind them and Ace's eyes squeezed shut in pain, something Luffy saw as he glanced to his brother. He knew what was to happen next and he wanted with all his heart to stop it. But he was at a loss for what to do. Hadn't that man told him he couldn't do anything? Not that being told that had ever stopped him in the past.

That didn't mean he thought he could actually do it. If he knew anything, it was his big brother's nature. And Ace would certainly never back down from this fight, no matter what Luffy said.

"You two, just keep going until you get to the ship!" Jimbei ordered, sensing Ace's weakening resolve.

"As soon as you rescue 'Fire Fist' Ace, you run!" The voice that Luffy would never forget rang out as Admiral Akainu taunted them. "The Whitebeards must be a group of cowards!"

There was resounding reply from every pirate within earshot. "What?!"

"He's trying to stir you up obviously!" One of the more experienced men said, in an attempt to stop his brothers from doing anything stupid. "If you stop, you're playing into his hands!"

"Well, your captain is that guy, so you can't help it, can you?" Akainu mocked smugly, removing his hat, fixing his hair, and placing it back on his head in a carefree manner. "Because after all, Whitebeard is just a…" he paused, a smirk coming to his malicious lips. "…loser from the old times!"

Ace froze in his tracks, his eyes screaming murder, but Luffy was ready for it. His hand wrapped around the man's upper arm and he tried to yank him forward. "Come on, Ace!" he attempted. needing to get him out of there.

Ace didn't budge and for several long moments all he did was catch his breath, sucking in large pants of air. "A loser?" he asked finally, his voice low. A puff of fire engulfed each of his tightly clenched fists before he turned around, wrenching his arm from his brother's grasp. "Take back what you said!"

"Hey, don't, Ace! Don't stop!" One of the pirate yelled nervously.

"Just let him say whatever he wants," a man right behind Ace agreed, moving forward to take his arm and hold him back.

The murder written all across Ace's face, however, said that he clearly _wouldn't_ let this punk ass admiral say whatever he wanted about Whitebeard. Without even hesitating, he flung the man who had grabbed him back, his elbow catching in the guy's stomach and winding him.

"He mocked Pops!" Ace growled, fire lighting his shoulders and arms.

"Ace!" Luffy practically shrieked. "Stop! Don't do it!" He rushed forward and tried to grab hold of the precious man, trying with all his might to keep him from the fight. He was met with much the same fate as the other one who tried to stop Ace and was forced to stumble back.

"Get back, Luffy!" Ace commanded, sending his brother a quick look that demanded no further interruptions. This was something he had to do and he couldn't let anyone, not even precious Luffy, get in the way.

"Did you say 'take it back'?" Akainu questioned, his head tilted to the side as he looked through slanted eyes at the second division commander. A smirk came to his lips as he straightened his neck. "Not in a millions years! I'll tell you why. Your father Gold Roger conquered the Grand Line and opened the door to the new era called the Great Pirate Era by sacrificing himself. As a marine admiral, it's not my place to say so, but he was true to his name ad King of the Pirates! In contrast," the smirk disappeared, "what has Whitebeard done?"

Ace's teeth ground together, fire flaring up in patches across his exposed skin, burning brighter the more Akainu spoke.

"I wonder if he really had the intention to fight. I assume that he established a large family and was satisfied being a big fish in a small pond. There are some fools in the world who'd say that his name is keeping peace on various islands, but if you ask me, he's just keeping lightweights in fear of him, and he think that he's a hero, which makes me laugh! When Roger was alive, Whitebeard had second billing, and even after his death he couldn't become a King. That means he'll never surpass Roger, and he'll be a loser forever! That's who Whitebeard is, and that's the truth."

Flames now firmly burning on his skin, Ace began to walk forward.

"He's a poor man when you think about it," Akainu continued, showing no outward sign that approaching pirate made any difference. "He's gathered some punks who call him 'Pops' and roamed around the sea with his fake family."

"Stop it." There was no pause between Akainu's words and Ace's low command.

Luffy attempted to rush forward but Jimbei caught hold of his shoulder, forcing him to stay put. Desperate, the boy turned his pleading eyes on the fishman. "Please, I gotta save Ace." Jimbei just shook his head, and Luffy could feel the older man's tension through the hand holding him.

"And although he reigned the sea for years, he couldn't become a King and gained nothing, and at the end, he was stabbed by a fool, one of his sons who fell for my line… And he will die to protect that son. Don't you think that his life is so empty?"

"Stop it!" The fire flared around Ace as the control over his temper diminished.

"Don't do it, Ace! Come back!" Izou pleaded, though clearly none of the pirates including him were willing to take even one step closer to the monster that was Akainu. They were only human, after all. What could they do against the raw power of magma?

"Ace!" Another man piped up in agreement.

"Pops gave us a place to live! You can't understand his greatness!" Ace shouted angrily, done with hearing the shit being spouted at him.

"People don't deserve to live if they can't live justly!" Akainu rebutted, red oozing from his arm as the appendage was taken over by the magma. "Punks like you don't deserve a place to live!"

"STOP IT!"

"WHITEBEARD WILL DIE A LOSER! IT'S FITTING FOR A BIG FISH IN A LITTLE BARREL!"

"WHITEBEARD IS A GREAT PIRATE WHO SHAPED THIS ERA! DON'T MAKE FUN OF THE MAN WHO SAVED ME!" The flames burned brighter, completely taking over Ace's body.

An eerie glow was cast upon all who stood near enough, and Luffy could only watch on in horror as Jimbei restrained him with both hands. "ACE, STOP!" Luffy shouted desperately, trying even though he couldn't get closer to stop his brother.

"Don't do it, Ace!" His comrades yelled fearfully.

But no, Ace ignored every last one of them, his flaming fist drawing back as he aimed to punch the admiral. "THE NAME OF THIS ERA SHOULD BE 'WHITEBEARD'!"

The ground cracked red around Akainu as he did the same, lurching forward to connect his fist with the younger man's. An explosion of light and fire surrounded the two as Ace poured all he could into his attack, a savage angry cry ripping from his throat.

"Both Whitebeard and you guys who call him Pops are the same after all- losers!" Magma dripped down Akainu's face and he shoved his all into his own attack, a clashing burst of fire and ominous red smoke obscuring the two from view.

A cry of pain that wrenched at Luffy's heart was heard and Ace was flung from the cloud of their attacks, hurtling through the air before his head slammed on the ground and he flipped from the momentum, landing in an unmoving heap on his stomach.

"Ace has been burned!" Izou cried in disbelief, watching in shock as Ace shifted, trying to use his pained arms to prop himself up.

"Are you careless because you ate a Logia type fruit, which is the most powerful of all?" Akainu scoffed, red still oozing down his features. "You're just fire, but my magma can burn even fire! My power is far stronger than yours."

"ACE!" Finally managing to wrench himself from Jimbei's grasp, the likes of which had loosened from his shock and horror, Luffy made to run forward but fell to his knees, unable to take another step. _'No! I didn't get to do anything! Move, dammit!'_ he screamed internally, trying his hardest to force his muscles to move.

"Hey, Luffy, you should not fight anymore!" Jimbei called, turning his attention from the older brother to the younger.

Luffy fell forward, his hands planting on the ground in front of him, tears of frustration coming to his eyes and rolling down his cheeks. _'No! Ace is going to die again and I can't do anything! Why can't I move?! I need to go!_' His gaze caught on the white paper that had floated to the stone in front of him. "Ace's Vivre Card!" His hand reached shakily for it, only for his eyes to widen as the wind pushed it out of his reaching grasp.

"Gold Roger the King of the Pirates, Dragon the revolutionary," Akainu in distaste. "I was amazed to hear that sons of those two are stepbrothers. You two have bad blood in your veins. I don't care if the others get away so long as I get you two!" He glared down at Ace, daring the man to look away. "Watch what I do."

Ace's eyes widened in horror, Akainu jumping right past him towards Luffy, fist raised for the kill. "LUFFY!" Body moving of its own accord, Ace lurched to his feet and planted himself directly between the attack and his precious little brother.

Something knocked into him hard, throwing him from his feet to land painfully on the ground a good meter away. His eyes, already squeezed shut as he'd prepared for the worst pain of his life, were forced to remain that way as a blinding light took over.

He'd been knocked out of the way.

Shit.

_Luffy._

Whatever, or rather whoever, had stopped him from rescuing his brother was still on top of him, lithe body trapping him on the ground. Ace's eyes snapped open just as his fists came to life, aiming to destroy whoever had stopped him, only to freeze dead in his tracks.

There, panting like he'd just ran a marathon and framed in the background by the familiar brilliant blue flames of Marco, was the face that had haunted Ace's dreams for the past ten years. That blond haired, gap toothed, top hat wearing boy who had been killed when they were kids… was hovering over him, gasping for breath.

Sabo.

_Sabo._

Sucking in a final gasping breath, the blond tilted his head up to look into the wide dark eyes of his best friend and brother. "Ace," was all he managed to get out, but the relief present in his voice spoke far more than he ever could in that moment.

It was more than Ace managed, his mind nearly shutting down from the shock of it. "S-Sabo..?"


End file.
